Police were more interested in the activities and whereabouts of Gerry Adams than investigating child sex abuse allegations against his brother Liam, the alleged victim has claimed in court.

Aine Adams, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she had gone to the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) in 1986 - during the height of the Troubles - but found officers preoccupied with pursuing her uncle, the Sinn Fein president.

She said: "I felt it wasn't about me. The police were more interested in who he (Gerry Adams) was. They were more or less trying to lead into trying to get information about where he was and who he was with.

"Back then you did not really trust or talk to the police. We had to leave it. We felt it was safer for me and mummy. I had to go up to the barracks and say I wanted to retract my evidence. I did not say I was telling lies, I just said I wanted to retract it."

Liam Adams, 57, of Beragh Drive, Belfast, is standing trial accused of 10 counts of sex abuse including rape, gross indecency with a child and indecent assault between 1977 and 1983. He has denied all of the charges.

The jury of six men and six women at Belfast Crown Court were shown a recorded interview in which Ms Adams, now aged 40, alleged her father had exploited every opportunity to sneak into her bedroom and secretly abuse her when she was aged between four and nine-years-old.

She said: "It was as often as he could manage. If he could sneak in. That just seemed to be the way it was. Every opportunity there was he would have done it. Even if he didn't I would have expected him to do it."

The abuse was carried out on a regular basis at four different addresses across Belfast, it was claimed.

Ms Adams said she had spoken out to achieve closure, not to seek retribution. She said: "It is not about hate or revenge or pity. It is just to hear him saying 'no you weren't lying, I did it'."

It was also revealed that at the age of 13 Ms Adams, her mother and uncle Gerry had confronted her father at a house in Buncrana. "He denied it to my face. I told him to his face that he did it. At that time that's all we could have done," she said.